Sophia Scriptura

Clement of Alexandria

Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς · Clemens Alexandrinus

Clement was a Christian teacher at Alexandria around 190–202, probably born in Athens to pagan parents and widely read in Greek literature and philosophy. His three main works form a sequence: the Exhortation to the Greeks calls pagans to faith, the Instructor teaches the new Christian how to live, and the Miscellanies (Stromata) lead on to deeper Christian knowledge. He argued that Greek philosophy, rightly used, prepared the way for Christ, the Word.

Dates
fl. ca. 190–215 (approximate)
See or city
Alexandria
Region
Egypt
Also known as
Clement; Titus Flavius Clemens; Clemens Alexandrinus
Notes
Eusebius (Church History 5.11; 6.6, 13–14) says that he succeeded Pantaenus as teacher of the catechetical school at Alexandria and that Origen was among his pupils; modern scholars doubt that the school was yet a formal institution. He left Alexandria during the persecution of ca. 202 and is last heard of in Cappadocia, in a letter of Alexander of Jerusalem of ca. 211.

Works